Seven runners earn marathon slots in Lu Lingzi's honor

Lingzi Lu was among those killed in the Boston Marathon bombings. PHOTO: abcnews

Seven runners will tackle the course at April's Boston Marathon in honor of Lu Lingzi, the BU graduate student who killed in the terrorist attacks at last year's event.

The spots, which were increased from five to seven, each went to runners in the Boston University community, where Lingzi was studying statistics.

Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore told BU Today that 211 people had entered a competition for the highly coveted slots, submitting written or videotaped statements explaining their motivation to run in honor of Lingzi.

The winning members of the BU community who will run in Lingzi's honor are Ryan Shea, Baiyun Yao, Andrew Duffy, Shuheng Lin, Yujue Wang, Dan Mercurio and Jennifer Carter-Battaglino, the school announced this week.

Money raised by the seven for running the marathon will go to the Lu Lingzi Scholarship Fund for graduate students. A talented academic, Lingzi was honored shortly after the bombings with a memorial service at BU.

A Boston Marathon tribute at the 2014 race will honor the one-year anniversary of the bombings. The event, hosted by Boston Mayor Martin Walsh and Gov. Deval Patrick in coordination with One Fund Boston, will be held at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston on April 15.